The JuicyFig: July 2011

As a nation we are passionate when it comes to talking about the weather - we discuss it endlessly, the forecast, what weather we have had, what is to come, if we like it hot, but not this hot, if the gardens need rain or sunshine, what grade of rain it is, that fine stuff that wets you through, torrential fat rain that bounces up when it hits the ground, we have dry days, humid days, days to rival north African temperatures and Arctic climates - summer events either end in sun burn or get rained off, winters are clear sharp and crisp or miserable wet and grey - what would we talk about if the weather never changed? - lets face it, we have a lot of weather!

Our felines have discovered they can also turn the weather to their advantage - as soon as it rains they are in and out of the house like they are on elastic, not because they enjoy getting wet, but because Mr Juicy has taken to rubbing them dry with a towel each time they come in which they can't get enough of - I think he has made a rod for his own back with this one!

I really don't mind the English weather - it can be frustrating at times, but hey, we should be used to it by now! So take delight in the small things, rain drops on ~~roses~~ carnations, morning dew on a spiders web, amazing clouds and sunsets, I even witnessed Blackburn from a nearby hill 'steaming' after a cloud burst on a hot day last week - the weather is rarely dull!

Now - how do I get all this washing dry???

Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.

Sometimes it feels like all I do is moan about one thing or another, and over the past couple of weeks I seam to have had reason to moan - but probably took it to the extreme, so today is a calm Sunday.

Well, t would have been calm, but first thing this morning I had to dash out to a muddy field to rescue Baby Fig from her flooded tent after she had been woken by a torrential cloud burst at the aptly named 'cloud spotters micro festival' - I don't know, teenagers these days have no stamina or sense of adventure!

Last week I went to our local wool shops first birthday party, and was inspired by the speaker Veronica Shaw who writes patterns for Let's Knit Magazine to just get on with my knitting, make stuff up as I go along, mix colours and textures and basically stop pontificating over everything I do! So to this end I have been crocheting a new blanket of blues from my huge basket of double knitting 'odd balls that need using up'

I did however get a little distracted mid week after discovering King Coles new sequined yarn - I am not a sequin type person at all so I am not really sure quite why I fell for this yarn, but cautiously invested in just one ball and am now working it into a frilly edged scarf I designed myself.

Not a brilliant photo - but the whole of the Ribble Valley is currently sitting under a very grey cloud!

It is now just over 12 months since I worked for the Department of Work and Pensions. The department I worked for was the Child Support Agency. In the 6 years I worked for them I learned more about bitterness and suffering than I ever imagined was out there on our small island. I think I had been rather nieive about life! I saw a side to people I would be more than happy never to witness again, both within the workplace management, myself and the customers. It left me wondering just how disproportionate my view of humanity was compared to reality, and it also left me feeling distrustful and suspicious - almost paranoid! I am however working very hard on seeing the country and it's people with a more balanced view, but also trying to look at myself and my part in the grand scheme of things - I am by no stretch of the imagination a model citizen - how boring would that be! but I am trying my best and have been looking at the SLOW MOVEMENT - I am not signing up to anything, joining anything or telling anyone else to - but I like the ethos behind it, it's new old fashioned ways - the sense of appreciation of your own toils and those of others. Life is too short for all the stress and worry we create for ourselves. I don't suppose I will stop moaning about things, people, situations - but I am determined to to make an effort not to let the same things wind me up like they have in the past.

So - here is a 'big up' to life, lessons and living - next time I am about to have a rant, I will count to 10, look at it from all angles, fight the fights that need fighting and take the most from small pleasures in life like a sparkly sequinned scarf - and spot happiness in everything around me.

Finally, a moment captured last Friday at Warrington Walking Day - My Grandma who is 96, attending her 96th walking day - She loves everything about it, especially when the pipe bands play as they pass us all standing in the same spot we have stood in for over 100 years!